Clementine the guardian
by Breaking Dead Among Us
Summary: What if Clementine was 25 during season 1, and Lee was 8 years old? Disclaimer- All the other characters are the same age as in the game
1. Chapter 1

**Clementine the guardian.**

 **After seeing videos of the new and final season of the walking dead, I came to realize how much our Clementine has grown from the small 8 year old who was afraid of spiders on her hair to the bad ass character we know today, and now that she's got AJ to protect it kinda fells like Lee all over again.**

 **And that gave me this idea for this story, the story happens in season 1, but the roles are reversed.**

 **Clementine in this story is a 25 year old first grade teacher, and Lee is just an 8 year old boy, who loves history.**

 **But beware all the other characters like Kenny, Duck, Lilly, Larry and other are the same age as they were on the original game.**

 **But enough talk, let's get right into the first chapter.**

 **Chapter 1- A new day.**

It was a brand new day of work for 25 year old Clementine Marsh, she got out of bed, took a quick shower, got dressed and ate breakfast.

Clementine has been a first grade teacher for almost 4 years now, she would teach the children the basics on literature, writing, math, some history and her favorite subject art, she loved every second of it.

Clementine lived on her parents house with her parents, but she would help pay the bills and put money on the vacation jar.

She only lived with her parents, because she couldn't afford living alone, she loved being a teacher, but unfortunately it wasn't exactly the most payed job in the word, she didn't even owned a car (but she had her driving license).

Thankfully her house was big enough and was quite good as well, it was a two story house, with a tree house and it even had a pool, and Clem's parents had no problem with her living in it.

But now for the rest of the week Clem, had the house all for herself, because her parents were having an important work reunion in Savannah, Clementine had no problem with that.

As a teacher, Clementine was what her students would call her "The coolest teacher in the world".

When a kid thinks if a teacher they would most likely think of a grumpy elderly lady who couldn't take a joke.

But Clem was no way near like that. The first thing you would see on her it's the way she dresses, she wears a pretty casual outfit, instead of suits, and one thing that she always wore was her dad baseball cap, all the students found that hat to be pretty cool, some of the kids would even try to convince her to borrow the cap to them, but Clem would always refuse.

On the teaching, Clementine would always make sure to be fair, but also rigid if things got out of control, she loved to take her class on trips (her favorite was on the botanical garden, were her students learned the leaf rubbing). She would always try to bring things in class, in order for her class to have fun and also learn.

Clementine was surprisingly she was single and she wasn't very interested in getting a boyfriend.

So Clem finished breakfast, grabbed her bag and exited her house to get to the bus.

She arrived half hour sooner than her class, like always.

When the hour finally came, the school bell rang, students formed a line and each one entered the class and sat on their respective seats.

"Good morning class." Clementine greeted.

"Good morning Mrs Marsh." The class said in union.

"You're very lively today, that's good." She said "For that I guess we'll start with everyone's favorite subject art."

The students gave a quick cheer, for Art was their favorite subject.

After about 2 hours of drawing, the bell rang again, so all the students got out of their seats and left class, leaving their drawing on their desks.

Before the next class began Clementine needed some coffee, so she headed for the school's cafeteria.

But when she arrived at the cafeteria there was something strange, it was empty… almost empty there was only one person there besides Clementine, and that person was the director of the school William Carver or Bill like most people called him.

Bill was a good school director, he was fair and rigid when he needed to be. Clementine's relation per say was mostly only professional, but Clem suspected that Bill must of have some feelings for Clem, and she had to admit that Bill was indeed pretty handsome for an older guy.

Bill noticed Clementine and smiled "Mrs Marsh, go grab some coffee and take a seat."

Clementine did so, she got coffee from the coffee machine and took a seat right next to Bill.

"So Mrs Marsh how has your day been?" Bill asked.

"It's Clementine Mr Carver, and yes I have been having a great day, even if as only started." Clementine said.

"Well then that's good to hear… Clementine, but I bet you have some questions right now. Oh and please call me Bill." Carver said.

"Okay… Bill, and yes I do have a question, where is everyone?" Clementine asked.

"That's something a wanted to talk to you about." Bill started "I'll go straight to the point, any future classes today are canceled, you can go home."

Clementine didn't expected that "Really? But why?"

"An officer came to my office and told me send everybody home, I guess it must have something to do with that illness that has been talked on the news lately." Carver explained.

Clementine understood now why everyone was missing "So, I can just get my stuff and go home?"

"Sure you can go right ahead, I'll be here for a while, I have to make sure that the students get safely to their homes." Carver said "And one more thing… are you free this afternoon?"

Clementine snorted and gave Carver a sly smile "Are you asking me out on a date?"

Carver looked a bit embarrassed "Well… it doesn't have to be a date, it could be just a nice dinner between two friends, and after that we maybe could talk about your future in this school."

Clementine laughed and got up "I'll think about it, I'll give you a phone call if I decided to have some company."

"I'll wait for your phone call." Carver said.

And with that she finished her coffee, and left the cafeteria.

She went to the classroom one more time to grab her bag, and left the school.

Once outside, Clementine noticed that the bus had already arrived and was ready to leave.

She ran to the bus as fast as she could "Wait a minute, don't leave!"

But it was too late, when she arrived at the bus stop, the bus had already left.

"Shit, fuck, stupid asshole!" She cursed at the now not present bus driver.

"Is everything alright young lady?" A new voice asked.

Clementine turned around and saw an elderly police officer.

"Things could be better officer, I just lost the bus now I gotta wait an hour for the next one." Clementine explained.

"Well, that sure is annoying, miss?" The police officer said.

"Marsh, Clementine marsh." She introduced herself.

"Well then miss Marsh, where do you live?" The officer asked.

"I live a few miles outside the city." She said.

Suddenly the police officer had an idea "Tell you what, why don't ya hop on the back of my car and I'll take you home, I won't charge nothin'".

Clementine wasn't sure if she liked the idea if getting on the back of a police car like some criminal.

"You want me to get to the back of the car?"

The officer understood her confusion. "Don't worry miss you ain't under arrest, I can promise ya that."

With that Clementine decided to just get in the car, he offering her a ride, so why not?.

"Then I guess I'll take that ride, thanks officer."

"Just doin' my duty miss." The officer said.

So with that, Clementine got into the back of the police car and the officer, got into the driver's seat. And they drove off.

After half an hour they managed to leave the city.

After that much time without talking, the officer adjusted the viewfinder so he could see Clementine without having to turn his head around.

"Well I reckon you didn't do it." The officer suddenly said.

Clementine was confused with that statement "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm just sayin', if this were a different scenario and I was really taking ya to jail, then I reckon you would say, that ya didn't do it." The officer explained.

"Not from me, my parents always did tell me to be honest." She said.

"Well, that's not how it usually goes, every time I drive someone to the pen all I hear is the "I didn't do it"' He explained.

"Every time?" Clementine asked.

"Every time." The officer confirmed "Every single convicted fellow as their own version of how they didn't do it."

The officer stopped talking for a bit, Clementine looked to the window and saw something strange, there were a lot of police cars going back to the city with their sirens on, but she found even more strange when she saw a police helicopter flying towards the city.

Her concentration stopped when the officer spoke again.

"Ya know miss, you're not the first non convicted civilian, that I've given a free ride home, I do enjoy to give a ride home to folks who seem in a hurry, especially if they have connections with Macon."

"You're from Macon then." Clementine assumed.

Her assumption was right "Yep, came to the big city in the sixties to become a cop, I always wanted to work on a murder case." He said "Ya ever been to Macon Miss?"

"A couple of times, one time it took my class there to see the cherry blossom festival." She said "It was the funnest experience I had with my class."

"You're a teacher then, what grade do teach?" The officer asked.

"I teach the first grade, and believe me it's harder than it sounds, because first impressions are everything and it's up to me to welcome them to the world of studying and to teach them the basics that they're going to be using for the rest of their lives."

"Well if ya don't mind me saying this, but ya don't exactly look like a teacher" The officer commented.

Clementine just smiled "I get that a lot."

"But then again, I guess that helps ya to blend in with the younger crowd."

Clementine than noticed that the message box from the front of the car was constantly sending voice messages.

"Any of that seem important to you?" Clementine asked.

"All of it, but that box never shuts up, if you pay to much attention to it, it'll drive you mad." He said.

Once again they didn't talk for a few moments and once again, Clementine looked trough the window, she saw more police cars with their sirens on, and even saw what looked like swat team armed cars, all of them were heading towards the city.

And once again it was the officer who broke the silence.

"I was drivin' this man once miss, he was the worst one, he couldn't stop rambling about how he didn't do it. He was an older fella, big soft eyes behind a pair of smart folk glasses, and he's just rambling, saying 'it wasn't him', cryin' and snoting all, right where we're sittin'" The officer started, he stopped for a moment to turn off the message box which continued to sending requests for assistance "Then he starts kickin' the back of the car, like a fussy baby on a airplane. And I tell him that he's gotta stop, that's government property and I'd be force to zap him if he didn't stopped." He continued "So he stops and havin' lost all his options he stars cryin' for his mamma. "Mamma it's all a big mistake it wasn't me."" The officer said in a somewhat mocking voice.

"So did he do it?" Clementine asked.

The officer nodded "They caught the fucker RED handed, stabbin' his wife and cuttin' her up as the boys came trough the door. He sits in my car sceamin' bloody murder that he didn't do it. I think he actually believe in himself." He paused for a moment "It goes to show people will go mad when they think their life is over."

Clementine would make sure to remember those last words.

"I got another one, this one is less depressing and it's more hilarious..." The officer started to tell a new story.

But Clementine noticed someone walking on the middle of the road "WATCH OUT!" She tried to warn.

But it was too late, the ran over the person on which caused the officer to lose control over the car, resulting on them crashing down to a small hill outside the road.

Clementine lost her conscience during the crash.

Clementine was now going in and out of conscience, during that time she could hear some srt of growling, then gunshots and then screams, then everything went black.

She finally woke up, not sure how much time she had been out of conscience.

She tried to move, but when she did she felt a sharp pain on that region.

"Ugh, shit!" She cursed, she had a nasty cut on her leg.

Looking around she could understand that the car was upside down, she could also see the police officer trough the window, he was lying down on his stomach.

"Hey officer, can you hear me? I need some help back here!" She called out

No response. She realized that the officer might need more help than her, so she kicked one of the windows until it broke and she crawled herself out of the vehicle.

Once outside she had difficulty walking with her cut leg.

She could now see the scenery better, there was a trail of blood leading to the officer, there was also a shotgun on the ground and a ammunition shell.

"Why did he had his shotgun out?" She wondered.

Without wasting any more time, she went on to check on the possible wounded officer.

"Officer are you alright?" She said.

The officer answered with a raspy moan, then suddenly he woke up… or better yet he came back to live.

He growled at Clem, scaring her that she fell backwards.

"Holy shit!" She cursed at the undead cop that was crawling after her.

Clementine crawled back trying to get away from the undead, until the car stopped her.

Looking around Clementine could see the shotgun, She quickly grabbed the weapon and the ammunition, she tried to load it but failed dropping the ammunition on the ground.

So she grabbed it again and was able to successfully load the shotgun at the second try.

She pointed the weapon at the officer "Don't make me do this!" She begged.

But the officer kept getting closer.

With an heavy heart, Clementine closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.

The shot hit the officer straight in the head, blowing up most of it.

Clementine's eyes were wide open, her mouth was gape open and her hands were shaking, she couldn't believe what she had just done.

She immediately threw the shotgun to the ground.

She then noticed a small figure in the distance, it looked to be a child.

"Help! Go get some help, there… there's been a shooting." Clementine shouted.

But the figure instead took off, Clementine wasn't sure why.

But then suddenly, Clementine heard growling behind her, se turned around and saw a horde of corpses walking after her.

She got up with some difficulty and started limping, trying to get away from the horde, even tripping once, she eventually found a fence separating the house of the other side from the woods, so she climbed it, falling to the other side and bringing her to safety.

On the other side of the fence the dead, were knocking on the fence trying to knock it down.

But then a machine gun shoot could be heard on the distance, that made the dead on the other side stop and follow it.

Once Clementine realized that she was off the hook, she got up and looked around, she saw the very familiar house and the very familiar tree house and pool. She now realized that she ironically had just landed on her home.

"Well, at least I'm home." She said.

What Clementine wanted now was to get inside, take a hot shower and try to figure out what the hell was happening.

She open the back glass door and entered her home. But when she did her eyes widen when she saw what was inside (plus her leg was still hurt). There was a big pool of blood on the floor of her kitchen.

"What the hell happened here?" Clementine asked confused and a bit frightened, that blood was obviously not there in the morning .

She stared at the blood until a noise broke her concentration~, the noise came from the message box.

She inspect it and saw that there were three new messages, they were most likely form her parents who at Savannah.

She hoped that they were alright and that things were good in Savannah.

She played the fist message " _Hey Honey, this is your mom, I'm just sending this message to let you know that me and your father will stay here for an extra day, your father had a problem with some crazy guy near the hotel and he's felling so well, so I'm bringing him back to the ER. But don't you worry honey, we'll be back before you know it. And remember no home parties while we're out. Love you Honey"_ First message ended.

Clementine was confused, what did her mom meant by her dad being attacked by some crazy guy?

The second message started and it sounded way different from the other _"Oh my god finally! Honey, I don't know if you've been trying to reach us, but all the lines are falling, they're not letting leave the city and they're not telling us anything about Atlanta. Clementine if you can hear this, just stay away form Atalanta! Please let me know that you're safe"_ The message ended.

Clementine was now really worried and was praying that her parents were alright.

The third message started and now she could hear sirens on the background and her mom was crying. _"Clementine Honey. If you can hear this, stay away form the cities, they're not safe. We love you… We love you… We love y-"_ The message was cut off.

Clementine had now tears streaming from her eyes "Oh god no, mom, dad!" She sobbed.

She now realized that her parents most likely aren't alive now, and for the first time on her life she was now clueless of what to do next, hell she didn't even know what was going on to begin with.

"Hello?" A voice said.

This broke Clementine's concentration, the voice came from the kitchen, which was strange because there was no one there last time she checked it.

She went to the kitchen and as expected there was no one there.

Until she remembered one thing, she open one of the drawers and found her childhood walkie talkie (Clementine used to talk to her dad with that thing).

She picked it up and pressed the button "Hello?"

"You need to be quiet." Said the voice, it sounded like the voice of a little boy.

"I'm not one of those monsters outside." Clementine assured.

"That's good." The boy responded.

"What's your name darling?" Clementine asked.

"My name's Lee."

"Hi Lee, my name is Clementine, and this is my house." She introduced herself to Lee.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know this was your house." Lee said a bit embarrassed.

"It's alright darling, you clearly just needed a place to hide." Clementine assured. "How old are you?"

"I'm 8." Lee said.

"And you're all alone?" Clementine asked concerned.

"Yes, I was with my aunt, but she was attacked by one of those things." Lee said in a sad voice "How old are you?" He asked.

"I'm 25." Clementine answered "Are you safe darling?"

"Yes, I'm hiding in the tree house, they can't climb in." Lee said.

Clementine looked at the tree house trough the kitchen window.

"That's smart." She praised.

Clementine then noticed the door of the tree house opening, and now she could take a better look at Lee, He was and 8 year old Afro American boy, with a black Afro and he was wearing a orange jacket whit a red shirt, jeans and some running red shoes.

He was waving at Clem "Can you see me? I can see you trough the window." Lee said.

Clementine waves back with a smile.

But then Lee's expression changed "Behind you!"

Clementine immediately turned around and there stood a few inches from her, a dead woman walking.

The woman lunged at Clementine, aiming at her neck with her teeth.

Clementine with all her might pushed the woman who then fell backwards.

Trying to run away, Clementine slipped on the pool of blood and lightly hit her head on the counter.

Her vision was a bit blurry for a second, but she could see the woman crawling on the direction, so Clem kicked her in the face.

Getting up again and tried to leave again, but the dead woman had other plans, she grabbed her leg making the first grade teacher to fall again.

Clementine was now crawling backwards trying to get away from the woman, while the woman was crawling at her direction.

But Clem's savior came, Lee came running a hammer on his hand, he opened the glass door.

"Here, use this!" Lee said offering the hammer.

Clementine immediately grabbed the hammer.

Clementine grabbed the dead woman by the arms and, rolled her to the floor, once the was on the floor on her back, Clementine lifted the hammer and with a war cry, she hit the living dead on the head.

The woman was still alive, so she hit her again, and again and again, until the dead woman's skull had a hole on between her eyes.

She was no longer moving.

"Oh man." Clementine panted, she couldn't believe what she had just done.

"Did you kill it?" Lee asked.

"I think so, but I think she was killed by something before." She said, but then she noticed Lee's sad expression "Darling, what's wrong?"

"She's my aunt, she took me to Atlanta so I could see a civil war site, she was attacked by those things three hours ago." Lee explained.

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry you had to all of that." Clementine pitied "But where are your parents?"

"They're in Macon, with my big brother om their drug store." Lee said "Where are your parents?"

Clementine's expression downed for a second but she hid it "They're in Savannah." She said "Look, I don't know what's going on, but I'll look after you until we find your parents."

Lee smiled at that "OK, so what should we do now?" Lee asked.

"We should look for help before it gets dark." Clementine suggested the safety of the daylight.

"Yeah, it's dangerous in the dark." Lee agreed.

With the approval, Clementine got up and grabbed Lee's small hand. "Let's go then."

The duo walked out of the yard and saw two men trying to push a car out of the way, this could very well their salvation.

Clementine turned to Lee "Now we're just going to talk to these people, maybe they can help us."

"OK, but we should be careful." Lee warned.

Clementine smiled "You really are a smart kid." She praised.

Without another second, they opened the small gate separating the house from the street, which made a noise.

The noise scared the two men.

"Holy shit, don't eat us!" The fat man said with his arms up.

"We're not going to eat you." Clementine assured.

This seemed to calm the two men

"Phew, I thought you and the little one, were both gonna give us the chomp" The skinny guy said.

"Good thing, we're not going to." Clementine commented.

"I guess it is, my name is Shawn Green."

"I'm Clementine, and this here is Lee." She introduced.

The fat one knelled down and waved at Lee "I'm Chet"

Lee didn't answered he just crossed his arms, looking suspiciously at the two men.

"Do any of you know what the hell is going on?" Clementine asked.

"I don't know, but Atlanta is in chaos, we just need to move this car blocking our pickup and drive off to my old men's farm, you and your son are welcome to come with us." Shawn said.

"I'm not her mom, I just so happen to stumble upon him." Clementine said.

"So, he's alone?" Shawn asked.

Clementine nodded.

Suddenly some walkers could be seen in the distance.

"Them monsters are comin', we gotta go." Chet said while crouching down.

The walkers were really heading towards the group, Shawn, Clementine and even Lee, pushed the car out of the way.

They quickly got into the pick up and Shawn drove off.

 **Hershel's farm.**

It was already night time when they reached the farm.

The farm was a nice plot of land, it had a stable, a wither house and crops, not to mention a fence surrounding the property.

The car stopped and the group left the car.

"Hey Shawn, I'm gonna head home, my mama's gonna be in a snit." Chet said.

"No sweat man, I'll meet you tomorrow." Shawn said,

Chet nodded before tuning to Clementine and Lee "It was nice to met y'all." He said before walking away.

The door opened from the house, and there came the owner of this farm "Thank god you're ok." He said before hugging Shawn.

"I couldn't of made it out without Chet." He said.

"Well then, I'm glad you brought it with you then." The owner said before noticing the duo "You've brought a couple guests."

"Your son is a life savior." Clementine praised.

"Well, I'm glad he could be of help to someone." He commented "So it's just you and your son then."

"She's not, his mom, she just happened to stumble upon him." Shawn informed.

The owner knelled down to Lee's level "Son, do you know this woman?"

"Yeah… I know her." Lee lied.

This seemed to convince the man "Okay then." He then looked at Clem's leg "Looks like you've hurt your leg pretty bad there, miss."

"Yeah, it's not doing so good." Clementine said remembering the pain on her leg.

"Go sit on the porch miss, and I'll see what I can do." He said before turning to Shawn "Shawn go check on your sister, I'll go find some bandages and see what I can do."

With that, Clementine sat on the porch and waited.

The owner came in with a first aid kit.

"Let's have a look… Yeah this is swollen to hell." He said inspecting it.

"Well… It could be worst I guess." Clementine said.

"I guess you could be right." He said "I didn't catch your name, miss."

"My name is Clementine." She introduced herself.

"Hello Clementine, I'm Hershel Green." He introduces himself "So tell me, how did this happened?" He asked while wrapping the leg with bandages.

"It was on a car accident, we hit one of those things on the road." Clementine explained.

"Well, you're no worst for wear." Hershel commented "Where were you going, before that?"

"I was getting out of work, and heading towards work." Clementine said.

"Really? What do you do for a livin' miss?" Hershel asked.

"I'm a first grade teacher."

"That's an important job." He praised "And who were you with during the crash, the boy?"

"I was with a police officer, he was giving me a ride."

"Awful nice of him." He said with a little suspicion.

"He was an awfully nice guy." She agreed.

Hershel then turned to Lee "I didn't catch your name son."

"It's Lee."

"Can't imagine, what you're going trough." Hershel pitied.

"I'm looking after him, until I find his parents." Clementine explained.

Shawn then came out of the house "Hey dad so I was thinking, first thing in the morning we should re-enforce the fence."

"That doesn't seem to be necessary." Hershel waved off.

"Dad I don't what you've heard on the radio or saw on TV. But there's some serious SHIT hittin' the fan." Shawn insisted.

"Your son is right, you might want to fortify this place." Clementine supported Shawn's statement.

"Stuff like that, doesn't happen around here." Hershel continued to wave off.

"Dad I'm serious, Clementine tell him what you saw out there." Shawn said.

"I saw the dead rising and walking around." Clementine said remembering being chased by the dead.

"Well, do what you think it's right." Hershel said.

"Clementine and the folks at the barn can help me out. We've gotta do this dad, really." Shawn said.

"I already said yes." Hershel assured.

With that, Shawn decided to leave and get inside.

Hershel was now done fixing Clementine's leg "There, that should do it. Tomorrow if your leg gets hot and the swelling doesn't go down, then you're probably dealing with an infection."

"What do we do then?" Clementine asked worried.

"We'll probably just gonna have to shoot you." Hershel said, that statement, scared Clementine and Lee "We'll clean it, re-dress and it should be fine." He said revealing the joke.

"That would be preferable." Clementine said somewhat relieved.

"The house is already full with mine, you and the boy can sleep on the barn for the night, we've already got a family of three sleeping there." Hershel said "Do you have where to go tomorrow?"

"I'm heading toward Macon, I suppose." Clementine said.

"Good, there are blankets and such in the barn, you two better get some sleep, you'll be up bright and early." Hershel said before walking inside the house.

So with that, Clementine and Lee got into the barn and made an improvised bed with the blankets and they both sat on them.

"It smells like shit in here." Lee bluntly said.

Clementine gave Lee a questionable look "Don't use swear words, you're still young." Clementine lectured.

Lee looked nervous "I'm sorry, please don't wash my mouth with soap." Lee pleaded (it was something that Lee's mom used to do when Lee swears).

Clementine smiled "It's alright, just don't use swear word okay… besides I don't have any soap."

Lee smiled as well "That's good."

For a moment they didn't talk.

Lee broke the silence "I miss my mom, dad and my big brother."

"I bet you do Lee, I miss my parents too." Clementine admitted.

"How far is Macon?" Lee asked.

"It's not to long, a few hours if we drive a car." Clementine said.

"And how far is Savannah?" Lee asked again.

"Pretty far." Clementine said "We better get some sleep."

"Oh okay, goodnight Clementine." Lee said before going to sleep.

"Goodnight Lee." She said before going to sleep.

Clementine didn't know what the future would hold for her. But now she had a little boy to protect form the dangers of this new world.

But the future will not always be on their side.

 **So this was the first chapter of my new story.**

 **Don't forget to review and also if you like, leave suggestions on what changes should the story have compared to the original game.**


	2. Chapter 2- New Faces

**So in the second chapter of our story, Clementine and Lee are going to meet Kenny and his family, but also Lilly, Carley, Doug and Larry.**

Chapter 2- New faces.

"Hey get up" A redneck voice said.

Clementine opened her eyes, the morning sun hit her eyes (making her rub the her eyes).

She looked at the men that woke her up.

He had a fisherman shirt and matching cap, with some jeans and he had a hairy mustache.

Clementine got up and noticed that Lee was both awaken and was also scratching his arms.

"My arms are itchy." Lee complained.

"Well you've been sleeping in a barn little man, lucky you don't have spiders in your hair." Said the mustache man.

Lee gasped and started to check his hair for spiders.

"But I think your mom must of scare them all away."

"I'm not her mom, my name is Clementine." She introduced herself.

"I'm Kenny."

Suddenly a little boy (who couldn't be much older than Lee) appeared by the barn's door.

"Dad we're building a fence, there's a tractor and everything." He said before running off.

"We better get going, or we won't hear the end of it." He said before the trio left the barn "That's my boy Ken Jr, we call him Duck thought."

"Dodging or quacking?" Clementine asked with a smirk.

"Quacking." Kenny answered.

"DAD!" Duck called out.

"See." Kenny confirmed.

Clementine smiled at Duck's energy, during her four years of giving classes, there was always that one student who was full of energy and would always try to lightened the mood, and make the time pass by quicker. There would always be a class clown.

Clementine noticed that Duck was next to a blonde woman (clearly his mom.)

"Word is you and the boy, were on your way to Macon." Kenny said.

"His parents are from there, I'm looking after him until we find his parents." Clementine explained.

"Well Macon's on the way and, personally, I'd appreciate the company of someone who could give a helping hand or bust some heads if it has to." Kenny said.

"Sure, we'll tag along." Clementine said.

"It's a plan then." Kenny said before turning to his wife "Honey, Duck, this is Clementine. And, uh… what's the boy's name?" Kenny asked.

"It's Lee." Lee introduced himself.

"Lee." Kenny confirmed.

"That is a very good name." Kenny's wife complimented.

"Uh… Thanks." Lee thanked, not sure what to say.

Suddenly Shawn appeared "Well, we should get to work, we've all seen what those things can do out there, so the faster we can get this fence up the better."

"I wanna build a fence." Duck said.

"Me too." Lee said with a surprise excitement.

Shawn turned to the two boys "Yeah? Well I need a couple good foremen, you two can sit on the tractor and yell at me whenever I take a water brake." Shawn proposed.

"On the tractor? Cool!" Duck said excited.

Lee turned to Clementine "Can I?"

"Sure, go right ahead." Clementine said with a smile.

"Awesome." Lee said just as excited as Duck "First one to get to the tractor gets first dibs!" He challenged Duck before running off.

"Hey, no fair!" Duck said before running off as well.

Shawn then turned to Clementine "Duck, Lee and I will hop to it." He said before heading for the fence.

Clementine looked around and noticed that she was alone now, she could see Kenny's wife sitting on the porch and Kenny fixing a pickup truck.

Clementine decided to get to know Katjaa first.

"Hello there miss, I never learned your name."

"My name is Katjaa." The blonde woman introduced herself.

"Pleasure to meet you Katjaa." Clementine said "So what do you do when the dead isn't walking?"

"I am a veterinary back in Fort Lauderdale, like Hershel here, except more with dogs and cats ad not horses. What is it that you do Clementine?" Katjaa asked.

"I'm a first grade teacher." Clementine said.

"We need to hope that we go back to our jobs soon, Clementine, back to normal. It can't stay like this." Katjaa said.

"I hope you're right, I love teaching plus I'm worried about the well-being of my students." Clementine admitted "That reminds me; How did you and your husband managed to leave the city?"

Katjaa's expression turned sad "Kenny just drove, we passed so many people that needed help. And we just passed people, over some; Just… just."

"It's OK fine, you don't have to say anymore." Clementine said, realizing that Katjaa didn't like to talk about it.

Katjaa calmed down a bit "I want to go home tomorrow, but even then I can't take away the things we… the things Duck went through. Don't you want to go back to the moment before you knew about all of this?" Katjaa asked.

"Anyone on their right mind would, families, Sunday dinners and going shopping with friends."

"All those things." Katjaa agreed.

"Those are the things we live for right? With those gone, what's the point?" Clementine asked.

She had nothing much left to say "I'll see you later." She said before walking off.

She went to check on Kenny, who was still fixing the pickup.

"Hello Kenny, do you need any help." Clementine asked.

"Naw I think I got it. Do you need any help?" Kenny asked back. 

"In what aspect?" Clementine asked confused.

"I mean in taking care of that little boy. You know what you're doing, you got kids of your own?" He asked more clearly this time.

"Well I don't have any kids, but I've been dealing with boys of his age for 4 years now, so I would say that I do have experience with kids." Clementine explained.

"Well… I guess you could be right," Kenny said before going back to fixing his pick up.

"That reminds me, how is your son Duck?" Clementine asked,

"Good I think, Katjaa's got a sister up in Memphis; we were coming back from visiting her. We were in a gas station and some guy grabbed my boy." He stopped fixing the pickup "I thought he was kidnapping him, I was on the fucker in about two seconds and… christ. Just lucky I was there.

We saw a lot of bodies before we stumbled upon Hershel's" He told his story "But we're a tough family. Ain't nothin' gonna faze us.

Kenny went back on fixing his pickup.

Clementine had one more question "So what's your family's plan?"

"Get back down to Lauderdale and let this mess get sorted out. Government will start handling shots and the national guard will do it's thing." Kenny said with confidence. "On the odd chance things get too bad, we could hop on my boat I guess."

"You have a boat?"

Kenny nodded "I'm a commercial fisherman, catching mackerel, dolphin, whatever's bittin' and payin', Katjaa won't be wild about it, but the boat's not that bad."

This caught Clementine's attention, if she and Lee would follow Kenny and his family, then they would at least have an "escape plan" if things got too bad.

Clem decided to check on Shawn (and also Lee), he was on the fence fortifying it with the children.

Once she got there she noticed that Shawn was hammering wooden boards to the fence, it was stronger now, but it still looked weak.

She also noticed Duck on the tractor with and happy expression, but she also saw Lee standing right next to the tractor with his arms crossed and a bored expression, I guess Duck must of somehow won the race.

But Lee had a head start, so how did he lose? Clem was going to get to the bottom of this.

"Hey Lee how are you?" Clementine asked.

"Fine." He said with an grumpy tone.

"Looks like Duck won the race, but you had a head start, how did you lose?"

"Duck cheated." He said with his arms crossed.

Duck heard this "No I didn't, it's not my fault that you had your shoe lasses untied!"

Clementine looked down at Lee's shoes and he noticed that Lee's shoes were indeed untied.

She then turned to Duck "Is that how you won Duck?"

"Totally, we were half way in and Lee tripped… twice." Duck said with a laugh.

"You didn't help me." Lee Protested.

Duck just ignored the comment

She went back to Lee "Why didn't you tie your shoes?"

"I… I just forgot." Lee said.

But Clementine knew that there was more to this story.

"Lee, do you even know how to tie your shoes?" Clementine asked "It's dangerous to run with your shoes untied."

"of course I know how to… no I don't know." Lee admitted "My parents would always tie my shoes for me."

Clementine understood, so she got to one knew and tied Lee's shoes.

"There, all better now."

Lee smiled "Thanks."

"Your welcome, but when we get to a safe place we should teach you how to tie your shoes." Clementine said.

"I'd like that." Lee said.

Clementine patted his head before checking on Shawn.

"Hey Shawn, need any help?" She asked.

"That'd be great. If you could cut those two-bys to length, that'd sure speed things up." Shawn said.

Clementine grabbed a saw and a wooden plank and started sawing it in half.

While doing it, Clementine decided to speak a bit more "My dad doesn't know how bad it is."

"No he doesn't." She agreed.

"I saw a guy in Atlanta kill a kid. A boy. Just shot him right in the face." Shawn told.

This information shocked both Clementine and Lee (who was overhearing the conversation).

"Was the boy one of the dead?" She asked.

"I don't even know. He was either attacking the guy or asking for help ." He said "He didn't even hesitate, he just turned, put the barrel of the gun right between the kid's eyes and pulled the trigger." Shawn said disturbed.

Clementine knew that things weren't good, but she could never imagine things being this bad.

"You don't see things like that, it's not like in the movies." Shawn said.

"They don't fall easily as a live person." Clementine said before finishing cutting the plank and grabbing another.

"Did you had to do it?" Shawn asked.

"Do what?"

"Kill. Have you had to off one yet?"

Clementine thought about it for a moment "I had to shoot the police officer who was giving me a ride." Clementine admitted.

"I could shoot one, I got no problem with that." Shawn said.

"It's not easy if that person is someone you know." She said before finishing the second plank and grabbing a third one.

"I guess your right, I don't know if I could shoot my own dad or sister, even if they became one of those things." He admitted "I'm just glad that we're getting this fence built, dad just wants to keep the family safe and thinks inviting people in is a bigger threat than whatever's out there." Shawn said "But anyway how about yours Clem? How's your family?"

This made Clementine grow a sad frown "My parents are both in Savannah, alive I hope." She then glanced at Lee "I'm heading towards Macon, to find his parents."

"Well I hope you two can reach Macon, maybe it's not so bad there." Shawn said.

After Shawn said that Clementine had just finished cutting off the third plank.

"That's probably all I need cut now. Thanks."

Clementine dropped the saw "And Shawn, thanks again for the ride." Clementine said.

"No problem. Couldn't leave you two behind" Shawn said "Anyway, if you see my dad around, he might want some help in the barn"

Clementine looked and saw Hershel going to the barn with a pitchfork.

Clementine entered the barn, she saw Hershel working with hay.

Hershel noticed her entering the barn "How'd you get out of Atalanta?" Hershel asked again.

"I got on a ride, then I was in a wreck, I walked until I found my house, then I found Lee and your son." Clementine gave a quick summary of what happened yesterday.

"Well, you're no worst for wear, if you don't mind me sayin' it miss." Hershel commented.

"This farm is a nice pot of land." Clementine praised.

Hershel chuckled at the comment."Heh, if you told me twenty years ago. I'd still be doing this, I would of told that you were full of crap." He said "Never was the plan, having a place like this. It was in the family and I guess so was I. Family is important; It's all that matters. You agree with that?" Hershel asked.

"Of course I agree." Clementine said.

"Where's your family now?" He asked.

"My mother and father are in Savannah… alive I hope." She said.

"I hope too miss. But now you've got that little boy, Lee was it? You just stumbled upon him?" He asked.

"Yes, I was home and he came to my rescue." She resumed.

Hershel suddenly sneered and threw his pitchfork to a stack of hay with a grunt.

"I can I give you a piece of advice?"

Clementine was confused "Sure I guess."

"I don't know much about you. Yesterday you said that that a cop was giving you a ride home? That's weird and suspicious, don't you think miss." Hershel said.

Clementine glared a bit "He was giving me a ride home. I lost the bus and he was kind enough to drive me home. I know it sounds strange, but it is the truth."

"Fine, maybe that really happened. But what I'm trying to say is, if things don't get better, or they get worst before they do, you're gonna have to depend on the kindness of strangers if you're gonna make it. And let's just say you do something… questionable, if those same strangers start to question yours deeds of the past, then you'll be in trouble. So take my advice and keep those secrets to yourself." He advised "But at least you have the common sense to a man giving you advice." He praised.

The moment was interrupted when the sound of an engine started and a scream could be heard from outside of the barn, it sounded like Shawn.

"What the-" Clementine said confused and worried.

"GO! I'll get my gun." Hershel ordered.

Clementine sprinted out of the barn and headed towards the sound of the screams.

The sound of the screams took her back to the fence.

Shawn's leg was behind the tractor, Duck had accidentally started the tractor.

"Duck what did you do?" Lee questioned.

"I… I don't know." He said.

But worst yet; the sound of the screams had attracted three walkers, two of them were aiming for Shawn, and the only thing separating them from each other was the fence, which was still weak and it could shatter at any moment, but the third went for Duck, he grabbed his arm and tried to yank him off the tractor.

Clem now was facing a choice, she needed to decide who she should help first; Duck or Shawn.

She she knew that the life of a child was far more important and was by far the priority at the moment.

Clementine rushed to save Duck from the clutches of the Walker, even Lee came to help.

Both tried to grab Duck and pull him away from the walker's grab, but to no avail.

Suddenly Kenny came rushing in to help his son, now with the strength of the three of them they were able to pull out Duck (who was now being held by Kenny).

"I got you!" Kenny said holding Duck.

"Now we need to help Shawn." Clementine said.

"Get this tractor off me!" Shawn screamed.

But Kenny just ran off with his son.

"Clementine, help me please!" Shawn pleaded.

But by the time Clementine tried to save him, it was to late.

The fence broke down and the two walkers bit Shawn on the hip and then on the throat.

About that time, Hershel came in holding a riffle, but he was appalled at the scenario.

He shot all three walkers in the head before he went on to check on his son.

Shawn was dead.

"Get out." Hershel said before getting up and shouting "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

Kenny was sad and was full of regret "I'm sorry."

But Hershel was having none of it "SORRY! Your son is alive, you don't get to be sorry!" He then turned to Clementine "And YOU, you didn't even tried to help him!"

Clementine tried to find an excuse "I was worried about the little boy."

"Take a look at him! You weren't worried about this!" Hershel said before turning around "Please just go… GET OUT and never come back!"

Clementine looked at Kenny with a sad look to mach his own.

Kenny looked at Clementine and the at Lee.

"You've got that ride to Macon. If you want it." Kenny said.

Clementine nodded "Yes, I guess we should leave."

Kenny sighed "Yeah."

With that Kenny and his family, including Clementine and Lee got into the pickup and drove off.

Not looking back.

 **I am so sorry for taking this long guys, I have been lately drowned in school work.**

 **But I'll try to get another chapter up before the end of the year.**

 **Don't forget to Review**

 **And ha yourselves a Marry Christmas and a Happy New Year.**


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